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It’s time for that party or special event in Cambridge you’ve been planning for so long. That classy James Bond bachelor party with scotch, whiskey, and other ruggedly masculine drinks. Perhaps with a few high-end cigars and some red velvet smoking jackets included.

Toast the Bride with a sparkling cocktail that compliments the wedding colors. Our Mixologists have the perfect combination for your party

Or for the ladies, perhaps it’s time for your bridal shower. It’s time to drink girly, fruity drinks that fizz against your tongue and match the color scheme of your décor.

Margaritas, shaken or frozen with Cambridge’s Best Bartenders

Or maybe you’re planning a tango-dancing competition, with high profile guests sitting at fancy tables that line the dance floor. For this night of passion, you’d need a theme with a little bit of spice, a hint of seduction, and a taste that is south of the border.

Whatever the theme may be, you’ll want to hire a bartender in Cambridge from Beverage Events bartending service, we are the best choice in Cambridge since 2005. And not just to match the theme of your dreams, but to take it one step further, beyond what you could have imagined. When you hire a Cambridge bartending service to create cocktail menus especially for you, you’ll enhance your 007 night of intrigue with some classically prepared cocktails in glassware sophisticated enough to compliment your smoking jacket. With flavors rugged enough to match your cigar.

For that bridal shower, sip on pink martinis and manhattans that make you feel like you’re a star on Sex and the City. Or, for that tango event, enjoy a range of spicy margaritas. Add a portable glow bar, and we’ll send it to any location in Cambridge to enhance the bartending experience.

Call Beverage Events today at 617-399-1400 or visit our contact us page if you are interested in renting one of our stylish portable bars for your next event. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have about renting from us and look forward to turning your event into an unforgetable social experience. Our past customers agree, Beverage Events is the premier bartending service company catering to the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts.

Here is part two of Beverage Events “10 Valentines Day Recipes You Can Drink!” We hope you enjoy this post and take a look at the references at the end to visit some of the great sites where we found some of these recipes. Share with your friends!

6. Triple Berry Mojitos

Makes 1 mojito, but is easily quadrupled

This recipe comes to you from www.howsweeteats.com. Delicious and original drink for Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients

6-8 fresh mint leaves

2 1/2 ounces of mint simple syrup

1 ounce of rum

1 1/2 ounces of club soda

2 ounces of mixed berry juice

the juice of one lime

fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries

In the bottom of a glass, add 1 ounce of simple syrup and the mint leaves. Muddle with a muddler or use the clean bottom of something blunt, like a screwdriver! Add ice to the glass, a few berries, and pour rum, syrup, berry juice, lime and club soda over top. Mix with a long spoon or knife and serve with an additional sprig of mint.

Note: depending on the sweetness of your fruit, you may want to add more/less simply syrup, so I suggest tasting as you go. Same with the rum – add more if you like your drinks strong. Also – if you simply want a blueberry, raspberry, OR strawberry mojito, follow the instructions using only that one fruit.

Mixed Berry Juice

6 large strawberries

1/3 cup blueberries

1/3 cup raspberries

1/4 cup water

Add berries to a blender with water and pulse until pureed. Pour through a strainer and press juice out with a spoon. You may need to add a bit of additional water if your fruit is not very ripe and juicy. You can also use a juicer to extract the juice, but I find that it produces much less juice. You can also simply mash your fruit, but I did not want seeds throughout my drink.

Mint Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

10 fresh mint leaves

Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat just until it bubbles. Turn down to low for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and let sit for 15-20 minutes.

Directions

Fill a short or tall glass ¾ full with ice.

Add the vodka and sprite and stir.

Top with just enough cranberry juice to turn the drink a transparent light pink color.

Garnish with a lime wedge

7. Red Heart Sangria

Feliz Dia de los Enamorados! For those of you who “habla espanol,” that’s Spanish for “Happy Valentine’s Day!” Enjoy the Beverage Events twist on this classic Spanish drink and add a little flair to your Valentine’s Day party.

Yield

6 cups of Sangria

Ingredients

1/2 cup brandy

2 cups carbonated water (optional)

8 maraschino cherries

1/4 cup white sugar (optional)

1 lime, sliced into rounds

1 orange, sliced into rounds

1 lemon, sliced into rounds

1/2 cup triple sec

1 (750 milliliter) bottle dry red wine

1/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate

1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions

In a large pitcher or bowl, mix together the brandy, lemon juice, lemonade concentrate, orange juice, red wine, triple sec, and sugar. Float slices of lemon, orange and lime, and maraschino cherries in the mixture. Refrigerate overnight for best flavor. For a fizzy sangria, add club soda just before serving.

8. Red Velvet Cake Shot

Your guests are probably ready for desert after sampling all of your wonderful Valentine recipes so give the people what they want! Here is a shot the ladies will love and really tastes like cake! I have to admit I haven’t tried to make this one so hopefully the grenadine works out ok (haha).

Yield

1 shot

Ingredients

.75 oz. Frangelico Hazelnut Flavored Liqueur

.75 oz. citrus or lemon flavored vodka

A few drops of grenadine

Highball or large shot glass

Ice

Cocktail shaker

Sugar

Wedge of lemon

Directions

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice.

Pour in the Frangelico and the vodka and shake the heck out of it.

Run a slice of lemon around the rim of the shot glass or highball then proceed to twist it in the sugar to line the rim of the glass.

Strain the mix into the glass and run a small amount of grenadine to the bottom.

Garnish with a lemon. Shoot then bite down.

9. Warm Peppermint Love

Warm up by the fire with your loved one while you sip on some Peppermint Love. This drink will warm your bones and your heart on a cold February night.

Yield

Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients

1 cup hot chocolate

1 ounce peppermint schnapps

Whipped cream

Red sugar crystals

Directions

Brew up a pot of your favorite hot chocolate

Add 1-2 ounces of peppermint schnapps

Top with whipped cream and red sugar crystals.

10. Gummy Bear Martini

Here is a fun little way to jazz up your Valentine’s Day recipes. The gummy bear martini, if done right, tastes just like the famous gummy candy, invented in 1920 by Hans Riegel Sr., a candy maker from Bonn, Germany. The original candy was called “The Dancing Bear” and went on to become one of the most famous candies ever made. Allow Beverage Events to continue Han’s legend with our gummy bear martini! Cheers!

Yield

Makes one cocktail.

Ingredients

1 ounce peach schnapps

1 ounce raspberry vodka

4 ounces diet Sprite

1 lime wedge

3 gummy bears

ice

Directions

1. Fill an old fashioned cocktail glass ice and top with the peach schnapps, raspberry vodka, and sprite.

2. Give the mixture a quick swirl with a spoon or shake in a bartender shaker and garnish with a lime wedge. Add the gummy bears and serve.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner andBeverage Eventshas put together a list of some beautiful and refreshing mix drinks for your Valentine’s Day party or that special someone. When crafting drinks for this special holiday, you want to appeal to as many of the five senses as possible in order to create a cocktail that is original, delicious, and memorable. Getting your Valentine’s Day drink to appeal to the sense of hearing? Well that’s where having a clever name for your concoction comes into play so feel free to change any we have here if you are feeling creative!

1. Raspberry Chocolate Kiss Martini

Who, but Martha Stewart, would know more about how to make something spectacular for every holiday imaginable? This tasty kiss is a wonderful desert in a glass from the queen of cooking herself.

Fill a shallow dish with enough simple syrup to just cover the bottom. Place crushed cookies into another shallow dish. Invert a martini glass into simple syrup and then immediately into crushed cookies to coat the rim of the glass.

Place raspberries in a cocktail shaker; crush with a muddler. Add simple syrup and muddle again. Add vodka and cranberry juice; fill shaker with ice. Shake well until chilled. Strain into prepared martini glass. Serve immediately.

2. Valentine’s Day Rasmopolitan

This fruity cocktail combines raspberry with the traditional flavors of a cosmopolitan. Made famous by the show Sex and the City, the Cosmo has become one of the most popular drinks around and a favorite of the ladies. Here’s how you can jazz it up for Valentine’s day.

Perhaps the most classic Valentine’s Day recipe for any party is Cupid’s Kir Royale. The combination of champagne and Chambord is a nice twist on the traditional toast cocktail of choice. Add a twist of lemon if you like or some rose petals to your serving tray for an added touch.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons Chambord

1/4 cup fresh raspberries

1 bottle moderately priced French Champagne, chilled

Directions

1. Place 4 Champagne flutes in the freezer for 15 minutes.

2. Remove and add 1 tablespoon of the Chambord to each flute and a few raspberries.

3. Fill each flute to the top with Champagne and serve immediately.

4. Pomegranate-Champagne Punch

Another Valentine’s Day recipe Martha Stewart enjoys sipping on while cooking up a storm in the kitchen or perhaps filing her taxes. This one is very simple and great for entertaining large groups in a classy way. Believed to be one of the world’s first cultivated fruits beginning around 3500 BC, pomegranate juice is full of antioxidants to help your body fight disease and stay healthy. POM Wonderful Juice is our favorite brand and can be found in most grocery stores. This drink is a crowd pleaser!!

The lemon drop is a delicious favorite signature drink for many summer weddings and many other celebrations. Who says you can’t have a summer drink in February though? Add a gummy heart and serve this one up to your sweetheart or your fellow single friends!!

Yield

1 martini

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces vodka

1/2 ounce triple sec

1 teaspoon superfine sugar

3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

4 -5 ice cubes

superfine sugar, for the martini glass rim

1 large gummy heart on a bar stirrer

lemon twist

Directions

1. Chill martini glasses in freezer for at least 10 minutes prior to serving.
2. Place Vodka, Triple Sec, lemon juice and sugar into a cocktail shaker with 4-5 ice cubes and shake vigorously for 30 seconds.
3 Run the lemon twist around the edge of the chilled martini glass and dunk in a small amount of sugar for a coated rim.
4 Pour the strained martini into the chilled glasses add the gummy heart and serve.

Do you have more Valentine’s Day drinks to share? Tell us in the comments!

Beverage Events is proud to have launched the official blog of the 2013 Nemo Blizzard! Nobody can own a storm right? With that in mind I will proclaim this blog “official!” On this site you can find our coverage of Blizzard Nemo, stories we find online about the storm, and a place to upload your photos. The most exciting feature of the Blizzard Nemo blog is our live Instagram Feed that pulls photos directly from Instagram that have been tagged with the hash tag #Nemo. The stream updates automatically every five minutes and you can comment and share photos with your friends!

With so much snow in New England and the driving ban not being lifted until around 4 pm this afternoon, most people are either shoveling their driveway, sleeping, or playing in the snow. Beverage Events provides private bartending service for parties and corporate events in Massachusetts and if you would like to hire one of our engaging and fully insured bartenders please contact us today! Enjoy the snow and share www.findingblizzardnemo.com with your friends!

Beverage Events recently provided bartending service for a networking event hosted by Openview Venture Partners in Boston, MA. Since Winter was the theme of the event, the signature cocktail being served was called a “Blue Snowflake” and was a combination of two parts blue Hypnotic, one part Saint Germaine, and a champagne float.

Blue Snowflake Recipe

1 oz Saint Germaine

2 oz Hypnotic

4 oz Champagne

Coconut rimmed glass

The OpenView office space really added to the atmosphere of the party with spectacular views of Boston and the Fort Point Channel. Guests mingled with friends and co-workers as the world outside buzzed with the activity of downtown Boston. OpenView did an amazing job planning and managing the event from start to finish and Beverage Events was happy to be able to provide excellent service for some of the top minds in Boston high-tech startups and venture capital firms.

Whether you need an experienced and engaging, certified insured bartender, with bar tools and uniform; or require complete turn-key beverage catering with all the alcohol from our licensed vendors, as well as complete supplies and equipment, we’re here to provide you with the prompt and professional bartending service that we’ve been offering since 1998.

Call Beverage Events today! (617)-399-1400

There is a certain sense of satisfaction experienced when you are able to walk to the cabinet in your home and pour yourself a drink. Having an in house bar allows you to entertain friends, family, dates, or co-workers who will enjoy coming to visit and schmoozing over a well made concoction. No bartender in the world can pour a perfect cocktail without the proper ingredients though, so here is the Beverage Events list of some of the basic things needed in order to stock your home bar like a pro.

Alcohol

Well duh! Of course you need to have some of Grandpa’s old cough medicine in your home bar. If you are serious about going out and buying enough alcohol to have a respectable home bar set-up, let’s talk about what you should buy.

Vodka

Bartender’s Notes: Vodka has become very popular in the past twenty years and the array of fruity and flavored options available now is immense. A basic bar should have a mid-tier, plain offering like Absolute or Smirnoff. It is nice to have a bottle of Absolute Citrus and Stoli Raspberry if you want to be able to make cosmos, lemon drops, or Stoli Raspberry and Sprites. Grey Goose and Kettle One are good top shelf options if you want to kick it up a notch.

Have you been put in charge of managing this months’ company party? Worried that you may forget to arrange something, start a fire in the kitchen, or worse, overspend on your budget? Have no fear! Beverage Events is here to help you plan a party on a budget. Follow these seven simple steps and you will have your co-workers and your boss in awe at how awesome you are.

1) Shop wholesale- You should shop at Costco or another available wholesale superstore when you are looking to buy food and supplies for your party. By shopping wholesale, you will be able to save huge amounts on things like plates, napkins cups, appetizers, soda, chips, dip, and snacks. Restaurant Depot is a secret known about by many in the restaurant industry as another great wholesale option for buying food and supplies in bulk.

2) Use Company Space- Having a party at the office can be a lot better than you might think if you put forth a little bit of effort and think creatively. Try to find a room that would be big enough to hold most of the people at the party and is surrounded by an open area where people can mingle and sip their drinks. Find an out of sight area nearby where you will have space to prepare everything you need. Hit up iParty for supplies and ask some of the creative people in the office if they would like to help you decorate, then let them go nuts! Hint: Highlight the fact that you think they would be good at this since they are so creative. Flattery is a very persuasive tool!

3) Find Low Cost Entertainment-One of the best company parties I have ever bartended featured some awesome free entertainment that kept people in stitches all night. They set up a big screen television, hooked up Wii and Xbox and featured video games that are more social like Wii Sports or Guitar Hero. Watching your company CEO jam out to Freebird will not only be free for the company, it will also be PRICELESS. Be sure to bring a camera! Renting a photo booth is also fairly low cost and a nice addition to your party.

Other low cost forms of entertainment that people enjoy include trivia games, Apples to Apples or other silly card games, or simply a well made party playlist from your iTunes library. A band or single musician is also an exciting form of low cost entertainment. If you are in the Boston area, consider hiring a Berklee College student. They are incredibly talented and very affordable! If you would like to learn more, call the Career Development Center at (617) 747-2246.